When recovering from surgery, there are a lot of details that need to be taken into consideration. Good nutrition is just one of them. When waking up just after the surgical procedure, one of the most embarrassing things asked by a nurse is about the bowels: have you passed wind? And then after about 24 hours, they ask another embarrassing question: how is your bowel movement?

Nutrition is essential for post surgical recovery. Obviously the patient is not allowed to eat just before and right after the procedures. This is to prevent any complications like vomiting that some undergo as part of their recovery, especially when the anaesthesia starts to wear off. Instead, there is an IV attached to the arm and the nutrition is fed directly into the blood stream.

Then the time comes for you to actually start eating. Normally, the dietician is given instructions to give only soft foods so that the body will not get into shock trying to digest the too solid foods. So what the dietician usually gives is nutrition-rich soft foods that may not taste like heaven, but will definitely provide the body with its requirements.

As the days gradually give the body the chance to recovery, the diet is changed to solid food. But this time, there is a need to increase the fiber content, so more vegetables and fruits are encouraged. This is to ensure that there are no complications like flatulence and constipation. If the surgery involved the area of the abdomen, this is a must to prevent unnecessary bearing down by the patient to rid the body of the waste.

Nutrition in the home for further recovery is usually monitored by the dietician or the hospital nutritionist. They encourage the type of foods that are essential to the body’s continued recovery and would probably insist on the intake of foods that will help the recovery faster.

Listen to the doctors and the staff when they talk to you about good nutrition. Ask them what to avoid and what to increase in amount. They know what is best to make the body healthier, especially if there is long recovery involved. Healthy bodies recover faster, so eat good food. You can live without a hamburger or pizza for a while. What is important is that in the future, you can eat them again.